Enuff Z’Nuff have long been one of my favourite bands and I’ve been on that long journey with them since their very first record way back in 1989. Twenty-nine years on things have changed considerably, we’ve had tragedy and heartache, moves and re-shuffles but all along the way there has been great music. 2016’s ‘Clown’s Lounge’ saw a band without Donnie Vie for the first time, though that record was largely an archival release. This time it’s different though with Chip taking the reins and moving on with a new record ‘Diamond Boy.’ We caught up with Chip in his Chicago studio and boy does he sound full of life…
Mark: First of all thank you for taking the time to talk to the Rockpit Chip, last time we spoke ‘Clown Lounge’ was just out, which was largely an archival release; but now ‘Diamond Boy’ is here an album of all new material with you writing and singing. We’ll get to that later, but first of all how are you?
Chip: I’m pretty good buddy how are you? You’re calling from Australia?
Mark: I am, and I’m pretty good too.
Chip: Well I can’t wait to play down there, let’s make it happen!
Mark: Now that would be something!
Chip: I’m just here in the studio taking a bit of time to talk to everyone and I really appreciate you calling from Australia.
Mark: No worries at all, it’s always great when there’s a new Enuff Z’Nuff record out as I said last time it was a matter of looking back at older material but today is about the all new ‘Diamond Boy’.
Chip: That’s right ‘Clown Lounge’ was an archival record looking back at how we were, this one is about where we are today. I really had fun putting that last one together but this is a brand new record and a new chapter in Enuff Z’Nuff’s career.
Mark: It’s a great record too with all that you’d hope for in an album carrying that name. Was it scary in any way essentially stepping out on your own? Particularly as far as song-writing goes?
Chip: Well it’s just what came about. I’m never going to find anyone who sounds like my little brother (Donnie Vie) so who else was going to sing the songs? But I’m singing on the other records as well, my voice is there, and I think I stepped up to it and the band sounds strong so with the help of some great songs I think we managed to capture what we’re all about which is a very Lo-Fi Hi-Fi record, a real 70’s/80’s mix. Sure we went back a long way, but I remember Clive Davis saying to me “Chip if it’s 20 years old it’s new again” (laughs) so we looked back through the archive and picked at the bones of some of the bands we grew up with and loved, and put together a strong rock record that’s a combination of a little Pop, Alternative, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. So a nice Potpourri and I think people will be surprised when they hear it – it’s fresh and new, and the songs aren’t necessarily just about my experiences, I’ve written about other people as well. And I think that makes it real interesting.
Mark: It certainly does, I’ve been playing it constantly since it landed and that’s always a sure sign of a great record. That and the fact that it just put a huge smile on my face.
Chip: Thank you. I much appreciate that and I’d love to see the people of Australia get a chance to hear this record. I grew up listening to AC/DC and later bands like Jet, there’s some great groups you guys have spawned down in Australia.I’d just love to get down there, I love the country and the fans are great – they love their Rock and Roll out there so it’s only fitting we get a chance to come out there and bring this record down and do some shows.
Mark: Mate, I will be doing all I can to try and help make that happen. I’ve got a few people in mind to talk to about that. Playing for as many years as you have though you’ve seen a lot of the world and played to fans all over is there still a bucket list of places you’d still like to play?
Chip: We’ve been to quite a few, but I remember even in the early days when we were on MTV I always wanted to come to see you guys but it was just one of the places we never seemed to get to. But there are a few others, I always wanted to play Russia and I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit of China too. Those would be fun places to play ‘cos they’re starving for Rock and Roll out there. But everywhere else I think we went. We really have seen a lot of the world… Oh and maybe a couple of gigs in Hawaii, that wouldn’t be too bad (laughs).
Mark: (laughs) I’ll carry the cases…
Chip: (laughs) It’s not just their weather though, a lot of my Rock Star friends live out there, Todd Rundgren, Steven Tyler, some great guys. That would be my bucket list, but let’s start with down-under, it’s a beautiful country despite the snakes and spiders and wild animals! So it would be a pleasure to tip-toe through your country if we can! (laughs)
Mark: And the East Coast here isn’t all that far from Japan which I know you’ve played many times over over the years.
Chip: We’ve always loved playing Japan. It’s been a great country for us, we’ve been going there since 1989 and I’m sure that there will be some shows coming up in the Far East and the Pacific Rim next year after this Live Nation tour.
Mark: So tell us bout that tour? Where is the album taking you to for the remainder of the year and into the next?
Chip: Well we started off in New York on August 10th doing the Howard Stern Show on the day that ‘Diamond Boy’ dropped and then from there we’re all over the country on the Live Nation ‘Hair Nation’ Tour starting in San Diego on September 12th all the way through to the middle of November. So it’s quite a long tour, there’s 40 some dates and it features Jack Russell’s Great White, The BulletBoys from Los Angeles as well as us, and I think Eddie Trunk is going to be co-hosting quite a few dates on that tour. It’s a great celebration of the Sunset Strip where so many bands like that started including us, even though we’re from Chicago, it really all started in Los Angeles for all of our bands. And coincidentally Jack Russell’s Great White, The BulletBoys and us all have new albums out. What more could you want! Fresh new material, a great fresh tour and very reasonably priced tickets? It’s such a shame that tour is not coming to you because you can go out and see three bands who sold collectively 15, 20 million records for a twenty dollar ticket and be able to meet the bands as well. I think it’s one of the best deals out there right now and I’m looking forward to seeing all those new and old faces, and some old friends as well.
Mark: I’m hoping to jump on that plane and get out there to see it at some stage. We did get to see the BulletBoys down here recently so it would be great if we could get you and Jack down too. It’s great to see an upsurge in the music we love down here and like you say ‘new material’ keeps it all fresh and exciting for the fans.
Mark: Looking at the album now there are some great tracks on there. Where did it all take off what was the first track you cut? And most importantly where is it going to take you, things really seem to be firing up?
Chip: I think ‘Diamond Boy’ was the first one but I just wrote all of the songs and got it out of the way then I brought them to the band and then they contributed as well – and boy what they brought to the party! Tony Fenelle, ex-Ultravox, a great singer, wonderful keyboard and guitar player, he brought so much, some great riffs. Tory Stoffregen is a great guitar player too, he also plays for a band called the ‘New Black 7’, who coincidentally just put out their new record as well. Tory’s been with me for ten years or so, wonderful guitar-player, great lead singer, and then Daniel Benjamin Hill rounds out Enuff Z’Nuff, a ‘solid as a rock’ drummer, came from a band called ‘Superbig’, and they just put out a record as well. So everyone’s been staying real busy working together, the shows have been terrific, we started the tour off with Kiss: four shows on the Kiss Cruise, then 47 dates with Ace Frehley which was terrific, and we’re just playing shows with everyone who will take us and also doing our club dates around the United States as well, so if it’s 200 people or 20,000 it doesn’t matter, we come out every night firing on all cylinders. And who knows what the future holds, but there’ll be a new record label, a new album, a fresh new tour, it really couldn’t be much better for us right now.
Mark: There are so many great songs on there Chip, I think I could list them all at the moment if you asked me to pick a favourite. You sound particularly inspired and more importantly sound like you’re really having some fun with this record?
Chip: For me it was all about, picking up the bones of all the bands I grew up to love. Show me a guy without influences and I’ll show you a guy who doesn’t have a record deal, OK. So here we are today, 20-something albums out and a great new batch of songs, that’s the biggest fear of any of us artists out there from the older bands to the newer artists, putting out a record of all new material and seeing how its perceived because up until then you might think you have some great songs but the test is now. When I’m in interviews I always quote the great John Lennon, not that I’d compare myself with him at all, just that I love his song-writing sensibilities and his sense of balance, and he always said ‘All the great songs have already been written, it’s up to us as artists to find the and bring them down to you.’ And I honestly think what we have here is a great record, not just a bunch of singles but a whole novel with different flavors and different chapters. At the end of the day I think we nailed it, this is strong record for us right here and I hope that people will be pleasantly surprised If we didn’t trip your trigger in the old days then perhaps this record will catch you. I always say there’s no perfection in this music business in what we do, that’s only in pornos, those guys are really fuckin’ you know, (laughs) but we laid down a strong record and we play great ‘live’ together and that’s where the magic happens when the musicians get in the same room together. Like I said this is a special release for us and I can’t wait to get on that tour.
Chip: I’m sat right here at the Chicago Recording Company and right across the hall from me is Chance the Rapper, we’ve got Greta Van Fleet here, it’s a potpourri of great musicians and at the moment I’ve got a guy with me called Mark Bon Jovi, and we’re recording a great new Rock record and that’s what we do as musicians, we get in the studio and we create and hope to connect with the audience out there. And I know it’s out there because Rock bands are paying sheds and arenas out there right now, there’s a lot of older bands out there doing really well but also some of the newer bands too like Greta Van Fleet and Rival Sons who are producing music that is really great. There’s some great new bands out there who are really tripping my trigger, they’re carrying the torch for the future of Rock and Roll, and I’m really grateful for that.
Mark: You’re right there’s some great new music out there no doubt, but the issue is still the same, the record industry has lost its focus and no one has any reliable place to go to find that new music, you’re bombarded by a million bands, some amazing but most just adding to the difficulty of finding the real gems.
Chip: Maybe they should checkout your website?
Mark: (laughs) Thank you, there’s certainly a lot of great stuff on there, like your new record. Speaking of which it’s always great when a band you love backs their new album ‘live’ what are you going to be playing from ‘Diamond Boy’ when you get up on stage? I’m hoping maybe ‘Love is On the Line’? ‘Faith, Hope and Love’? What are you rehearsing at the moment?
Chip: Well obviously we know them all pretty well, but on this tour right here, the ‘Hair Nation’ show we’re going to be looking at all the material and focussing on the first four albums that really reached people and mixing it in with the new record as well. We’re playing ‘Where Do You Go’ and ‘Metalheart’ in the set right now but we’re looking at spreading our wings and putting some other songs in as well. I think it will be a great mix seeing how the new material mixes in with the hits like ‘Baby Loves You’ and ‘Fly High Michelle’ and then throwing in some B-side tracks maybe like ‘In The Groove’ and maybe even a couple of cover songs too. It’s an hour set so we’ll mix it up pretty well brother, it will be powerful and right in your face. Come and see us live and you’ll be pleasantly surprised, and it’s all live, no orchestra behind us, no one hiding back stage on 24-track consoles blowing back tapes to you, just the band and you, and I think there’s a beauty to that.
Mark: You’ve sold me! Where does the title of the album ‘Diamond Boy’ come from? I know in the UK a ‘Diamond Geezer’ is a “real good guy”, does that have the same meaning in Chicago?
Chip: Yeah, it’s a real good guy too! (laughs) It was one of the first songs that we recorded for the album and we decided it would be the title of the album too and we’d never done that since the very second album we recorded called ‘Strength’ that wasn’t a single but it was a really great track, but ‘Diamond Boy’ was such a great song and the name was a real Tony Fenelle idea, he’s pretty intuitive and he sold it to me real quickly.
Mark: Whats the next step then for Enuff Z’Nuff, you’ve got a great new album out, and a great package tour to showcase it. Looking a little further ahead what does the future hold? It seems like a fresh new start I guess, you could say, ‘post-Donnie’? I know he has a solo record coming out, I wondered if you were in touch still, still talking?
Chip: well he’s obviously in the studio, he’s making a solo record, which is real nice, but we don’t hear from each other a lot, you know, he’s been very busy and we’ve been busy as well. But our success he’ll still taste that too, he’s very much part of the legacy and the catalogue of what we’ve released and recorded and done over the last thirty years. When we started this band we were little kids, and here we are now as grown men and we’re still putting new music out. Yeah I’ve got a brand new record out but I was listening to Robert Plant a couple of weeks ago and he was saying he likes to get in the studio as much as he can these days and put new material down, and I’m just as enthusiastic. I’m making the next record now, I’m already five songs in!
Mark: Oh wow!
Chip: And I’ll tell you what, the next one is Heavy! (laughs with joy) oh man there’s great melodies here! If you picture our sound as The Beatles and David Bowie fighting in an alley and Cheap Trick comes in and breaks in up! This next album is more like Guns N Roses meets ELO and Queen comes in and stops that fight! There’s a lot I’m excited about in the new material I’m putting together, but one thing at a time I don’t want to get too far ahead of the game. But its one thing we do as artists spend time in the studio, take Dave Grohl, if he’s not in there with the Foo Fighters he’s in there doing stuff on his own. He’s got that new movie coming out with that 23 minute song – it’s unbelievable and he’s playing all the instruments on it! So it’s about challenging yourself as an artist and all the bands I love are like that too. Put down the songs and get them all out there because you never know when it is gong to stop. So try and do the best you can and get it out there, that’s my goal. To get great new music out there and continue the legacy of Enuff Z’Nuff, because I’ll tell you what I’m very proud of where it all started and I’m very proud of where we are now.
Mark: The best thing about taking to you today Chip for me is to hear how passionate you are when you talk about new music, there’s so much love and enthusiasm in your voice, it’s kind of humbling and inspiring at the same time.
Chip: Thank you brother, when I hear journalists like you who are genuinely excited about the new record tell me that, it makes it all worthwhile, because anyone can go through the motions and tell me I did a ‘pretty nice job.’ I know to a degree we’ve always been the critics darlings and whether that’s down to lack of sales I don’t know, but if people let us in and give us a chance, I think they’ll find something in there. It makes me really excited when people like you tell me that because this is it, this is my life. This is what I eat and I breathe, this is everything I do and this is how I represent what I am all about at the end of the day.
Mark: Thank you mate, I appreciate that. For me Enuff Z’Nuff were like my Lennon and McCartney growing up and I’m just constantly amazed that thirty years later you’re still making music of this quality. I always thought that you should make a documentary about the band because to me it’s one of the great Rock and Roll stories with so much love and life and tragedy and passion in there it would jump from the screen.
Chip: It’s funny that you say that because a documentary or a movie about the band would certainly have all of that along with the scars and tattoos that we got along the way as we went through our career. The promiscuity, the substance abuse, it’s all part of it, there’s beauty and there’s the other side, we’re certainly not a milk and cookies band. For us to still be going and still putting out quality music it is a blessing and I don’t take that for granted whatsoever.
Mark: That’s the now and long may it continue, but let’s wind the clock right back, what got a young Chip Z’Nuff hooked on this crazy ride – the life of a musician. Where did it all begin for you?
Chip: Well for me it was really simple, as a little kid my Dad told me one day I cold stay up late to watch Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert and Midnight Special, so that and also listening to Wolfman Jack and watching the Ed Sullivan show and all of the wonderful bands that he had on there: The Doors and The Beatles. And that was the catalyst right there, and I thought to myself you know what – there’s more to life than throwing a curve-ball or a fast ball, though I must say I still love sports! The important thing was I thought ‘Hey, I can do this’ and then when I saw bands like Alice Cooper, they were a big band for me, and I loved Led Zeppelin and Mott The Hoople and Sweet and The Who – those were bands that were real ‘dangerous’ and I hope it gets back to being like that in Rock and Roll, because at the moment it’s largely milk and cookies except some of the bands I mentioned to you before because there is some great new music out there don’t get me wrong.
Mark: 14 albums in did you ever think you’d be here still enjoying yourself and still recording music 30 years later?
Chip: Absolutely! Who puts a band together and gears up for failure!? Of course I did and I want to see it go on forever!
Mark: (laughs)
Chip: We lost our guitar player Derek (Frigo) in 2004, and the wonderful Ricki Parent followed in 2007 and that just left a couple of us left and people were saying “Well you know maybe it’s time to put a fork in it?” And I said “Not a chance (laughs) I’m still hungry!” (laughs) “I can still play and sing, I’m gonna keep on making records.” And Donnie’s retirement in 2013 really was a tough pill to swallow because not only is he one of the greatest singer-songwriters, he was also my partner, and my little brother. But he did and I accepted that he chose to do that and that he gave a lot of his life to the craft and what Enuff Z’Nuff stands for. But now he’s going to go out and do his solo stuff, and I’m sure it will be solid as a rock, and in the meantime I’m going to carry the torch for us and continue to go out there and play as long as I’m healthy. At the end of the day that’s what I am – I’m a musician.
Mark: Any final word for Australian fans?
Chip: Well like I said we’d love to get down there. We’ve never been and I know the fans would want it, I look on the internet and I see it all the time, Australian fans have been coming over to see us for years It’s about time we came and saw you!
Mark: How would you describe the music of Enuff Z’Nuff to someone who hadn’t heard the band before?
Chip: It’s a potpourri of all your favourite music whether that’s Pop, Rock, Alternative or Heavy Metal. If you grew up with bands that write songs like The Beatles, ELO, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Sweet, Mott The Hoople, well if you like those kind of bands there might be something you’ll like about us too. And let’s not forget Cheap Trick, we’ve always been compared to Cheap Trick, so I think if you like any of those groups out there we might trip your trigger!
Mark: And you might just stumble upon what I think is one of the finest bands to ever come out of the 80’s.
Chip: Thank you.
Mark: It’s been so great to catch up with you again today Chip, we really appreciate your time, let’s hope next time we meet it’s either on the Hair Nation Tour or when you finally get to see us down-under. I know that would make a lot of people happy.
Chip: Mate I can’t thank you enough, thank you for flying the flag. I hope the best thing that happened to you last year is the worst thing that happens to you this year and I wish you and your family and everyone else in Australia a long an prosperous life. So turn up the radio, put those records on the turntable and get out and support your favourite bands live.
Mark: Thank you so much, just you keep on making that great music!
Chip: (laughs) It’s easier said than done! But I’ll try. Thank you my friend, bless you mate.
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